After 7 years

It's been 7 years after getting PRK for my eyes and in the last few months have noticed that my vision has gone from "HD" to "SD."  I notice my vision is no longer sharp for seeing at a distance and sometimes have to put my glasses on to see small writing on the television or if I want to see face expressions clearly when seeing people from a distance.  When I switch back and forth from looking through my glasses and looking without them, the difference is very little yet it stinks that the outer edges of things are not sharp anymore.

I'm still not wearing my glasses much at all but keep them in my purse now because if I'm driving somewhere new, it's better if I have them to see street signs, etc.   Before I only needed my glasses for night vision but now need anytime I want to see wording or face expressions far away.

My doctor did tell me that around 10 years is when you'll see your vision creep back into the state it was in before and low and behold it is. 

With that said, I don't regret the PRK procedure I did 7 years ago, my vision was absolutely horrible back then and I still passed my driving eye exam at the DMV without glasses a few months ago!

After 5 Years

It has almost been 5 years since my PRK surgery.  About several months ago, I noticed a digression in my far distance eyesight.  I knew I saw better when looking at street signs afar while driving before.  I went in for a check-up and I was correct.  My vision did digress.

However, to my doctor's hopes I developed mono-vision.

Mono-vision means one eye sees great far distances and the other eye sees up close real well.  If I were to get the surgery again and correct both eyes, I would see far very well again but would have to wear reading glasses to see up close.  If I stick with my current mono-vision, more than likely, I would never have to wear reading glasses (like most people do past the age of 40) but unfortunately my far distance vision will not be as crisp but doable.  It was my decision.

Since I read a lot, I chose to stick with mono-vision.  To my doctor's advice, I did purchase glasses for only driving at night ONLY.  He strongly advised not to wear them at any other time as my eye will get weak by wearing them and increasing the digression with greater speed.  So that's what I do.

I hoped my corrected vision from PRK lasted longer than 5 years, granted don't get me wrong, it's still very good and I don't need glasses.  It's only when seeing letters or facial expressions far away where I see the difference.

After Two Years

After two years of PRK surgery, I have no regrets and still have fantastic vision!  The only difference I feel after getting the surgery is my eyes are a bit more sensitive to eye makeup and chopping onions-heehee!  Would do it again in a heart beat!

Almost One Year Later

Had my doctor's visit today (next one will be a year from now) and my vision is 20/15.  I am so happy that I took the plunge in getting the PRK surgery.  The only couple of side effects are still a bit of dry eye-especially when waking up in the morning.  Also, at the end of the day my eye makeup seems to creep into my eye and Boy! it can really sting my eye.  I asked my doctor about this and he says there is no need to worry and that it's normal to have this sensitivity.  The sting lasts a few seconds and gets better when I shut my eyes a bit or add drops-nothing to inconvenient just an observation.  Other than that "La Vie en Rose!"

I CAN SEE!

Its been about 9 weeks since the day of my surgery and I noticed yesterday, although it could've been earlier, that I can see clearly now!  In fact, it looks like I do have better vision than 20/20.  My doctor's appointment isn't for another month to know for sure but I am lovin' this.  I am so happy that I did this procedure!  I still do experience some drying in the eyes so I am still using drops at least three times a day.  But I am a very happy camper!

6 Weeks Out

I went to see my eye doctor a few days ago and my vision was 20/25, not too bad.  There was a mark improvement in my vision starting with week 4 and "sneakingly" getting clearer and clearer.  With PRK, you do not get that Wow, instant gratification factor but instead little by little your vision gets better. 

My vision is till not as good as when I wore contacts, though, and I guess that will come in time.  Reading from a book and from a computer monitor is much much better; driving is also much improved. 

So far, the worst side effect is office lights and driving at night.  Since I work in an office, the lights above seem to strain my eyes more, I feel like around 3pm my eyes are tired and "done for the day."  Done in that, tired of reading or concentrating on print.  Driving at night is doable if going somewhere familiar but the lights look like water color blotches.

All in all, I don't regret having this surgery.  I do hope that my clear vision last several years.  My vision before was -7, scary - because if I lost my glasses or one of my contacts popped out, I was pretty much blind.  So I wanted to surgery to give me better improved vision and this it did!

My visit with my eye doctor is in a month and I hope to have 20/20 or better.  Stay Tuned.

18 Days Out

So the last time I saw my doctor 10 days ago, he was pleasantly surprised at how well my eyes were healing and vision improving and hoped that I would be one of those superstar patients that healed in 2 or 3 weeks.  Well not so fast.  I went to see my doctor this afternoon and my vision digressed.  I have no pain and I really don't feel like my eyes are unbelievably dry.  But I have been disappointed about my vision being so blurry.  My vision has not gotten better in time, in fact, I do feel like it digressed a little bit.  Therefore, my doctor said that my experience is normal but would like to see a faster healing time.
So instead of taking one drop of perscription Prednisolone 4x a day and refreshing drops as needed, I now have to take the perscription drop every two hours, refreshing drops every hour and he also inplanted eye plugs to help create more tears.  Boy!  I should start watching more sappy chick flicks so I can cry more.  Even though I ddin't think my eyes were that dry, my doctor said that they were. 

So I will stick to this regimen until I see my doctor again in two weeks.  I want faster healing time myself so I hope this new regimen will help accomplish this.  I will post again in two weeks unless I have something remarkable to write in the meantime.

P.S. Again, driving to unfamiliar places where reading signs is needed would be prove to be a challenge for those undergoing PRK in my opinion.  Just a heads up.